Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Channel Four Television: Privatisation

Lord Pendry: To ask His Majesty's Government whether they still intend to privatise Channel 4.

Lord Kamall: Channel 4 is a great UK success story and, in a rapidly changing media landscape, the government wants it to thrive in the long-term while maintaining its distinctiveness.As set out in our recent White paper, Up Next - the Government’s vision for the broadcasting sector, Channel 4 - along with all broadcasters - is facing challenges to its future success and sustainability. This is due to the rapidly evolving media landscape, including unprecedented competition for viewers, programmes and talent from overseas as well as new, rapidly growing, streaming platforms.The Secretary of State will set out more detail once she has carefully considered the business case for a sale of Channel 4.

Department for Transport

Great British Railways

Lord Berkeley: To ask His Majesty's Government how much they have spent on preparing the legislation that would establish Great British Railways, broken down by (1) consultant costs, and (2) the cost of the number of hours civil servants spent on the work.

Baroness Vere of Norbiton: The budget for rail transformation is set and spend monitored, at the programme level.The programme does not monitor on an aggregated basis time spent solely on preparing legislation, plus civil servants working on rail reform legislation also work on other areas.

Office of Rail Regulation

Lord Berkeley: To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to provide the Office of Rail Regulation with a High Level Output Specification of whatthey want from the railway in Control Period 7, together with the Statement of Funds Available to support it, by the end of October.

Baroness Vere of Norbiton: We have worked closely with the Office of Rail and Road throughout the Periodic Review Process, including on the timing of the publication of the High-Level Output Specification and Statement of Funds Available. We expect the Office of Rail and Road to provide notification of its decision on whether to grant an extension of up to four weeks for publication before the end of October.

High Speed 2 Line

Lord Wolfson of Aspley Guise: To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to seek to progress the High Speed Rail (Crewe–Manchester) Bill through Parliament.

Baroness Vere of Norbiton: The government does intend to progress the High Speed Rail (Crewe-Manchester) Bill through parliament.The Bill received its Second Reading in the House of Commons in June and is awaiting its special Select Committee Stage.

Stansted Express Railway Line

Viscount Waverley: To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to restore the Stansted Express to four trains per hour in line with increasing passenger numbers at Stansted Airport.

Baroness Vere of Norbiton: Greater Anglia continues to carefully monitor passenger numbers and is making targeted adjustments to services as required. At present, new trains on the Stansted service are providing sufficient capacity throughout the day. Looking forwards, if there is sufficient demand and an overall positive financial case for further services then the Government would expect Greater Anglia to look at how best to respond to that situation.

Blue Badge Scheme: Spain

Lord Bowness: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer byBaroness Vere of Norbiton on 18 July (HL1670), what alternatives they are considering to mutual recognition of disabled persons' Blue Badges by Spain.

Baroness Vere of Norbiton: In Spain, recognition of disabled parking cards issued outside of the European Union is at the discretion of the local authority responsible for parking enforcement.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Nicaragua: Democracy and Rule of Law

Lord Hylton: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they plan to take to contribute to the restoration of (1) democracy, and (2) the rule of law, in Nicaragua.

Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park: In March 2022, the UK co-sponsored the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) resolution establishing a Group of Experts on Human Rights mandated to investigate alleged human rights violations in Nicaragua. They are due to present a written report of their findings at the HRC's fifty-second session early next year. They have already started work, including information gathering, although we have not been informed whether they will publish interim reports. Alongside international partners, the UK continues to consider a range of measures intended to increase the pressure on the Ortega regime to end its repression of the civilian population in Nicaragua and to encourage respect for democracy and the rule of law.

Department of Health and Social Care

Mental Health Services: Standards

Lord Pendry: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to improve mental health (1) services, and (2) access, across England.

Lord Markham: We are investing an additional £2.3 billion a year to expand mental health services in England by 2023/24 and support a further two million people to access National Health Service-funded mental health services. As announced in ‘Our plan for patients’, we will continue to increase the availability of mental health support for adults, children and young people.We are also addressing disparities in mental health and wellbeing outcomes in groups which experience worse outcomes than the general population. In response to the ‘Mental health and wellbeing plan: discussion paper and call for evidence’, we received submissions from 5,273 respondents in England. We are currently considering these responses and further information will be available in due course.

Public Health: Regulation

Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick: To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to introduce new regulations on public health that cover England if all retained EU regulations on public health are removed from UK law.

Lord Markham: Through the Retained EU Law (Reform and Revocation) Bill, the Government is currently reviewing which retained European Union law should be repealed, reformed or preserved. the Government continues to work with a range of stakeholders to ensure that any such reforms maintain or improve current standards in patient safety and public health.

Sugar: Consumption

Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick: To ask His Majesty's Government what additional steps they will take to reduce sugar consumption in England, including limiting advertising targeted at children.

Lord Markham: We are working with the food industry to ensure it is easier for people to make healthier choices and increase progress on the reformulation of food and drink, including sugar reduction.

Food: Sugar

Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick: To ask His Majesty's Government when they will publish the fourth report of the sugar reduction programme, Sugar reduction: progress report, 2015 to 2020.

Lord Markham: The fourth progress report for the sugar reduction programme is expected to be published by the end of 2022.

Health Promotion Taskforce

Baroness Merron: To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Health Promotion Taskforce is planning to meet before the end of the year.

Lord Markham: An updated Cabinet committee structure has been agreed to deliver on the Government’s priorities. A committee can discuss a wide range of policy areas relevant to its terms of reference. The Health Promotion Taskforce is not included in this updated structure. However, as announced in ‘Our plan for patients’, we will address preventable ill-health through collaboration across Government and the National Health Service.

Coronavirus: Medical Treatments

Lord Mendelsohn: To ask His Majesty's Government what data they have, if any, to show the proportion of people who tested positive for COVID-19 and were eligible for treatments through the Covid Medicines Delivery Unit (CMDU) and who were able to access such treatments.

Lord Mendelsohn: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the report by OpenSAFELY on behalf of NHS England published on 13 October which showed that 24 per cent of potentially eligible patients received treatments through the Covid Medicines Delivery Unit (CMDU), what additional criteria are being used by CDMUs to improve access to COVID-19 treatments.

Lord Markham: To date, over 75,000 patients have received treatments to date via COVID Medicine Delivery Units (CMDUs). On average, between 20 to 25% of individuals in England who test positive for COVID-19 and are digitally identified as potentially eligible for treatments in community settings subsequently receive one of four treatment options available via a CMDU. Where potentially eligible patients do not progress to treatments, this may be because they are not experiencing symptoms, are already recovering or are not in one of the eligible highest risk groups following clinical assessment. Some individuals also choose to decline treatment, whilst others cannot be contacted via the details provided at the point of registering their test result. Since the service’s inception, new treatment options have been introduced based on available evidence, faster access has been achieved via lateral flow device tests and we are now able to digitally identify more potentially eligible patients. We also receive regular feedback from patients, patient groups and charities and from the care home sector to understand and improve the patient experience and with general practitioners and hospital specialists, we are raising awareness of eligibility, access and treatment options.

School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme: Finance

Baroness Boycott: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential merits of enabling local or regional authorities to influence or control the allocation of School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme budgets for their area.

Baroness Boycott: To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to a reformed School Fruit and Vegetable scheme to (1) strengthen local procurement strategies, and (2) enhance the supply of (a) seasonal, or (b) organic, produce to schools.

Baroness Boycott: To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to enabling local authorities to have a role, on an initial pilot basis, in allocatingfunding from the School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme in their area.

Lord Markham: No specific assessment has been made. The School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme is operated by a private contractor on behalf of the Department. Seasonal produce is used as part of the scheme and organic produce may be used.

Human Embryo Experiments

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist on 3 October (HL2056), which new studies relating to the impact on children born from assisted reproductive technology treatments had led the expert Scientific and Clinical Advances Advisory Committee of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) to consider new recommendations regarding (i) additional techniques with the aim of replacing mitochondria in embryos, (ii) genome editing of embryos that is not currently considered to be clinic-ready, and (iii) extending the 14-day limit for embryo research.

Lord Markham: The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority has advised that its Scientific and Clinical Advances Advisory Committee has not made any specific new recommendations.

Public Health

Baroness Harris of Richmond: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the UK’s public health standards as a result of the measures proposed in the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill 2022.

Lord Markham: Through the Retained EU Law (Reform and Revocation) Bill, the Government is currently reviewing which retained European Union law should be repealed, reformed or preserved. the Government continues to work with a range of stakeholders to ensure that any such reforms maintain and improve current standards in patient safety and public health.

HIV Infection: Prisoners

Lord Black of Brentwood: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer byBaroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist on 5 October (HL2070),who is responsible for collating information and statistics about the testing of prisoners for HIV in England and Wales.

Lord Markham: Data on HIV testing is collected through the Health and Justice Indicators of Performance. NHS England’s health and justice commissioning teams receive the data from providers which is collated at regional and national levels.

Organs: Transplant Surgery

Baroness Cox: To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to publish a list of English hospitals and medical schoolsthat have partnered in any capacity withorganisations and institutions in China involved in organ transplantation.

Lord Markham: The information requested is not held centrally. Any professional, research or educational partnerships between medical schools, hospitals and other centres are managed by individual institutions.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Bovine Tuberculosis: Disease Control

Baroness Jones of Whitchurch: To ask His Majesty's Government what was the total cost to the taxpayer of controlling bovine tuberculosis since 2012; and what analysis they have made of these costs.

Lord Benyon: Defra’s net expenditure on bovine tuberculosis (bTB) eradication in England since 2012 is set out in the table below. For the financial year 2016/17, the lower figure shown is mainly due to a difference in the handling of salvage income rather than any cut in TB control expenditure in real terms. For the financial years after 2016/17 the figures do not include the substantial, but separately costed, expenditure made by the Animal and Plant Health Agency and its predecessor bodies, which are accounted for separately by the relevant executive Agencies. That includes expenditure on contracted out TB testing as well as the work of the Agency’s various veterinary, scientific, and administrative teams and associated operating and overhead costs. We estimate that the total costs to the taxpayer for bovine TB-related work in England have remained at around £100 million a year for each of the last 10 financial years. Defra’s bTB eradication strategy is working. A sustained downward trajectory in disease is being seen in areas of England at highest risk of bTB (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/incidence-of-tuberculosis-tb-in-cattle-in-great-britain). Financial yearAmount2012/2013£96,000,0002013/2014£101,781,0042014/2015£92,944,7312015/2016£90,396,2142016/2017£19,324,8572017/2018£36,192,3492018/2019£37,625,1252019/2020£36,939,0892020/2021£31,635,5622021/2022£34,261,406TOTAL£577,100,337